Landmark studies leverage Afirma GRID whole transcriptome-derived data to identify molecular classifiers and signatures differentiating thyroid cancer risk groups
Veracyte, Inc. , a leading genomic diagnostics company, announced the publication of two studies demonstrating the Afirma GRID (Genomic Resource for Intelligent Discovery)research tool’s ability to help define the future of thyroid nodule evaluation. Using the company’s innovative whole-transcriptome-derived research-use-only platform, researchers analyzed molecular data from thyroid nodules to develop signatures with potential to provide enhanced prognostic information prior to surgery. The findings appear in Frontiers in Endocrinology and Surgery respectively.
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“The next phase in thyroid nodule care is to find a preoperative prognostic marker with clinical utility. Veracyte with Afirma GRID is giving us a path to do that work …”
The first study describes the development and validation of mRNA-based classifiers to preoperatively predict low-risk thyroid tumor features in collaboration with researchers at Memorial Healthcare System in South Florida and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. The second study, published independently by researchers at Cleveland Clinic, explores whether mRNA-based expression signatures can be used to differentiate higher-risk tumors prior to surgery.
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“We introduced Afirma GSC in 2017 to primarily help patients with indeterminate thyroid nodules—those that were not clearly benign or malignant—avoid unnecessary diagnostic surgery. Now, Veracyte is working to help clinical researchers better answer the next critical question for thyroid nodule care: ‘For those patients whose nodules are likely cancerous, how much surgery is needed?’ These studies, which evaluate biomarkers to determine a likely cancer’s aggressiveness, may one day enable us to answer this question,” said Joshua Klopper, M.D., Veracyte’s medical director for Endocrinology.
In the Cleveland Clinic study, 445 thyroid samples had undergone Afirma GSC testing. Researchers then evaluated these samples using 30 molecular signatures available for research use only through the Afirma GRID to determine whether any could differentiate nodules, based on risk groups developed by the American Thyroid Association to categorize a thyroid nodule’s likelihood of being low or intermediate/high risk thyroid cancer. Two of the signatures stood out: an “invasion signature” for which a higher score predicted a 30% greater likelihood of intermediate- or high-risk cancer and a “NIS expression” signature for which higher expression levels predicted low-risk cancers.
Dr. Gustavo Romero-Velez, an endocrine surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic and senior author on the study, said, “The next phase in thyroid nodule care is to find a preoperative prognostic marker with clinical utility. Veracyte with Afirma GRID is giving us a path to do that work to get to a clinically useful prognostic marker.”
While the study does not yet provide the necessary data or validation for clinical use of these signatures, it highlights several with potential clinical utility. The study authors concluded that with further validation studies, gene expression profile signatures may serve as a preoperative predictive tool for high-risk features, potentially enhancing recurrence risk stratification and helping guide extent-of-surgery discussion with patients.
These publications demonstrate the power of Afirma GRID—enabling clinicians and scientists to explore molecular markers and signatures that may one day help guide patient treatment. Veracyte’s commitment to making Afirma GRID available for research is rapidly fueling the expansion of thyroid cancer insights.
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Source- businesswire
